Esther
by darkestboy
Summary: Esther has died and Ianto is the first face she sees when she passes on. Set within The Blood Line


**Name: **Esther

**Characters: **Esther Drummond, Ianto Jones.  
**Synopsis: **Esther has died and Ianto is the first face she sees when she passes on. Set within _The Blood Line_.

_I can't hold on. I can't ... I can't ... I can't ...I'm sorry, Rex._

Esther felt herself dying. The bullet had lodged in too deep for anyone to do anything and with the world restored, Esther just vaguely saw Rex's face as she died in Buenos Aires. In that moment, she had passed on but she knew in her heart that she had done good. She had died a hero. She also knew this was coming as well.

"Only in Torchwood," Esther said to herself quietly as she found herself surrounded by darkness.

She could see nothing for miles and miles and even though she was dead, there was a part of her that was slightly crippled with fear. She was too scared to move for she could see nothing in the abyss and it made Esther wonder if this was really what happened when people died. Was this was Vera had seen after she had been incinerated? Esther also thought about her mother and then both Sarah and her nieces and her fears grew all the more.

"No, I can't go," Esther shouted out at the darkness. "I need to go back. My sister ... she needs me. Please. I don't want to die. I mean, I don't want to be dead."

"I didn't either," a voice called out. Esther recognised a Welsh lint when she heard one and she turned to see a young man in a suit smiling benevolently at her. "Hello, Esther Drummond."

"Who are you?" Esther stared at the man, unsure as to whether or not she could trust him. His voice sounded well meaning but Esther knew that she could never be too careful.

"I'm a friend," Ianto said simply. "I thought you might need one right about now."

"How do you know my name?" Esther looked at the man with suspicion. "I don't remember telling you it."

"There's a lot you learn where we are." Ianto walked towards Esther still smiling at her. "And I've been admiring your work from afar as well. Jack certainly knows how to pick them."

"You used to work for Torchwood?" Esther asked as she began to look at the man's face again and then realised who he was. "You're Ianto, aren't you? Ianto Jones. You died -,"

"- At the hands of the 456, yes that's me." Ianto's voice sounded a little sharp. "And you died doing your bit to stop the miracle. To stop a world without death. Thank you."

"What for?" Esther looked confused.

"You helped prevent the world from being cursed and you and Rex both helped Jack and Gwen when they needed it the most, Esther." Ianto placed his hands on her shoulders. "You're going to ask me something now aren't you?"

"Yes," Esther replied as she kept looking at Ianto's eyes. Behind the benevolence, she could see a sadness to them. Ianto tried to disguise it but he looked haunted to a degree. "Was it worth it? I mean, being in Torchwood, was it worth it?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Ianto replied as he let go of Esther's shoulder and folded his arms.

"I asked you first." Esther reminded him. "Because I read the files about all of you – Suzie Costello, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato and you, Ianto Jones and I knew what I was getting myself into when I signed up and it's something I never got to ask Gwen. There was never a right time, so I'm asking you now because it seems to be the only chance that I might ever get to ask it – was it worth it?"

"We all have to die sometime and I'd rather have died in battle than as a pensioner in an old folk's home," Ianto said drily before softening his stance. "But yeah, in it's own way, it was worth it. Now what about you?"

"I don't know," Esther said in an honest tone. "I mean, I did my bit to save the world but I'll never see my family again."

"There's always a price to pay, sadly," Ianto said soothingly, feeling tremendous sympathy for Esther's plight. "But not here, Esther."

"Where is here?" Esther looked around the darkness once again.

"Here's not a good place. Here is nothing." Ianto placed his hand out for Esther to take. "The kind of nothing that will drive you mad. Unless you come with me."

"Where are we going?" Esther instinctively placed her hand into Ianto's, feeling like she could trust him for the first time since she laid eyes on him.

"To a much better place," Ianto replied. "Do you believe me?"

"I don't know," Esther said, sounding a little conflicted. "I think so."

"It's a start, Esther Drummond." Ianto pointed towards a light. "I know at least one person right now who'll be happy to see you."

Esther didn't ask who the person Ianto was referring happened to be but instead placed her trust in the young man. As she headed towards the light, her worries began to flicker away. Whatever happened now, she knew that the world had been changed to it's former glory and that Jack, Gwen and Rex would cope without her. She still didn't honestly know if joining Torchwood had been worth it overall but she did know that she wouldn't have missed trying to save the world for anything. Esther knew that she had outgrown her usual persona of being that girl behind the computer desk, not getting her hands dirty and into a person who could make a difference like the best of them. She wondered if that was something that also happened to people in Torchwood as well. That for all the badness that happened and the short lifespan that at the same time, Torchwood made her into a better person as well. She hoped that the next person who managed to get themselves caught up in Jack and Gwen's crazy world learned that lesson faster than she did but also that they would live to tell the tale. Esther reckoned that apart from Rex at the moment, Torchwood could do with a break on the body count.

- The End -


End file.
